FOOD, drink and fine entertainment is a combination guaranteed to pull a crowd - and the opening days of this year’s Usk Festival have have been no exception.

The town’s Big Weekend signalled the start of a week of events set to draw in residents and visitors alike, and thousands have already taken advantage of the dry weather to have a good time.

Twyn Square was packed with people keen to sample the wide variety of delights available from stalls that are part of the festival’s food and drink market.

And there was plenty of musical accompaniment to enjoy, from the likes of the Usk Church in Wales primary school orchestra, the Blaenau Gwent Senior Strings, the usk Quartet, acapella group Darchis, and Donnie Joe’s American Swing.

The success of the Big Weekend sets up the rest of Usk Festival week, with events as diverse as a Teddy Bears’ Picnic, Usk Singing Club’s summer concert, the town’s art club’s summer exhibition, and a Jazz in the Garden event.

The big draw as always next weekend will be the Usk Open gardens events, with more than 20 gardens open to the public, to raise money for charity. over the years, £200,000 has been raised from the event.

For details of these and other events, visit www.uskfestival.co.uk